Concerning Cooking
by Saya Moonshadow
Summary: He knew it was a good idea to learn how to cook, but he wasn't quite sure if allowing her to help was as well.  NujuSiahta oneshot.  Prize for Sylla Shadowfrost.


**This is for **_**Sylla Shadowfrost**_**, cuz she named all the songs used in my fic **_**Love Song**_**, and also cuz she did a GREAT omake of my other fic **_**The Road Not Taken**_**. She asked for either VakamaNokama or NujuSiahta, and I chose NujuSiahta. Siahta is her character, and I just adore her X3**

**Disclaimer: Nuju belongs to LEGO. Siahta belongs to **_**Sylla Shadowfrost**_

**Summary: He knew it was a good idea to learn how to cook, but he wasn't quite sure if allowing her to help was as well. NujuSiahta fluff, oneshot.**

**Concerning Cooking   
By: Saya Moonshadow   
For: Sylla Shadowfrost**

Tomato sauce tasted rather good, especially when it was licked straight from the spoon, which of COURSE had to have just come out of the pot. If Nuju had had his way, he would have eaten it every day. But he couldn't; one had to practice variety, after all. And eating the same thing every day without end was unhealthy.

But tomato sauce just tasted so GOOD, he couldn't help but make it at least two or three times a week. Of course, he always made some sort of pasta to go along with it, but it was the sauce that he REALLY looked forward to. The pasta was just extra insurance. The sauce was the love of his life.

In precise, clockwise turns, he stirred the sauce in the pot, smiling with anticipation. He'd been away on a mission for a few weeks, and hadn't been able to cook anything, much less his beloved sauce. Fires were prohibited, as it would have given away positions. So he'd had to resort to travel rations; traveler's bread, melted snow, dried meat. To finally be back home, where he could cook all the sauce he wanted, was heaven.

But it was just his luck that Siahta had decided to pay him a visit as well. He knew it was a good idea to learn how to cook, but he wasn't quite sure if allowing her to help was as well. She was, to put it lightly, a bit clumsy, but at least she knew how to cook.

But, she had the most annoying habit of being a bit messy in the kitchen, getting about as many ingredients on herself as went into the pot. He watched as she wiped a glob of flour off her shoulder - how had THAT gotten there?! - and suppressed a small sigh. At least he was able to make the sauce. That was all that mattered.

"Alright, so the pasta's almost done," Siahta said, dusting her hands off briskly. "You didn't have any in the package that wasn't past its sale date, so I had to make some from scratch. I think it turned out OK though."

He had to smile at this; she'd made it from scratch? Basic ingredients, not store bought stuff? How...cute. Really. But he had an image to keep up, so he kept these thoughts to himself and merely kept stirring the sauce in the pot.

Being as "hot" - he often wondered how the female Matoran had come up with such an adjective for him - as he was, he couldn't just start squealing over a girl now. No matter how cute she was with flour and other food stuffs in odd shaped patterns all over her body, and no matter how good he was sure that food she was making was going to taste when it was all done.

"Thank you," he said to her. "Pasta and sauce is my favorite meal; I appreciate you helping me to make it. I hadn't realized I needed more noodles though."

Siahta managed to spill some hot water on herself at this from shock, but quickly ran it under some cold water from the sink. "Uh, you're welcome." To Nuju's amusement, she was blushing again. Add that to the list of cute things she did - blush. Come to think of it, there were very few things she did that he didn't find cute.

He came in for a lot of ribbing from the other male Toa for this. Onewa was forever making jokes about why they weren't dating or at least making out by now, and Matau would make slightly more inappropriate jokes, which were always rewarded with a sharp smack upside the head. Heck, even Vakama had made a few comments!

He thought of something one of his old mentors had once told him; _"In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn."_

In teaching Siahta how to cook that first time, however long ago it was, he had learned that company wasn't such a bad thing after all. And in allowing Siahta to teach him some things as well, he had taught her more things. Like don't mess with the Toa of Ice when he's in a bad mood. Not that she'd cared, of course. She'd gone right on with explaining why he would never beat her in telekinesis. Telekinesis was his mask power. It also happened to be her actual element.

Great Spirits above.

But if there was one thing she couldn't beat him in, it was keeping spotless no matter how messy the work was. Nuju could go digging in the mud and not get a single spot on him. Siahta, on the other hand...well, she'd probably come out with more than half the mud on her body somehow.

"It was pretty easy, actually," Siahta was saying, sounding flustered like she always did when he complimented her in any way. "I've made it before for myself, and you had all the ingredients needed for it, so I...just put it together." She ducked her head, cheeks coloring even more.

To hide this, she leaned over and took the spoon from him, picked a drop of the sauce off with her finger, and ate it. A smile split her face. "You must do this pretty often - this is better than I've ever tasted it!"

Nuju was too busy watching the small droplet disappear into her mouth to really notice what she was saying. She'd eaten his sauce...HIS sauce. The sauce he had made. It stood to reason that he should pay her back now.

Siahta's eyes narrowed as he picked a noodle out of the other pot and ate it quickly, smirking at her out of those bright blue eyes. "That's not ready yet!"

"So? You ate my sauce, and it's not ready yet either." His eyes sparkled with amusement.

"That's not as bad as eating still-partially-raw pasta."

"Hm, maybe not, but you're a healer, right? You can heal me if I get sick."

Siahta sighed and wondered for the eight millionth time why she liked him in the first place. "Sure."

She returned to keeping an eye on her cooking for the time being, effectively blocking the Ice Toa across from her out. It didn't help that he kept stealing noodles from the pot, though. But when she glared fiercely at him, he just smirked at her. That smirk clearly said, _"If you're so mad, why don't you come do something about it, hm?"_

And so she did.

Nuju dodged gracefully as she swung the ladle at him, laughing a bit. "Missed, I'm afraid. You'll have to do better."

Siahta quivered with wrath, but then she had an idea. He thought stealing her contribution was so much fun...stealing his ought to be just as fun for her.

She smiled sweetly as she took a step towards his pot of sauce, and dipped the spoon, which he abandoned, into it. It came up with a glistening spoonful of rich red sauce.

"Don't you dare." Nuju growled, eyes narrowed.

With aggravating slowness, Siahta brought the spoon to her mouth and, despite the heat, ate it. She smiled again and sighed contentedly. "That's good! You sure know how to cook."

"You ate my sauce." It was more accusation than anything.

"I did. You ate my noodles."

His eyes were drawn to her mouth - there was some sauce on her bottom lip. A lazy grin crossed his face as he leaned against the counter. Siahta was starting to feel a little nervous, but didn't show it. "So there. Revenge is sweet."

"Oh it is." He definitely didn't regret being tall as he towered over her. "It definitely is sweet. Not as sweet as my sauce though, which you villainously stole and ate."

"You did the same to me." she accused, glaring up at him.

A smirk crossed his face, and he again looked at her mouth. "But you did it twice."

"You did it more!"

He chuckled; she was so easy to set off. "So what are you going to do about it?"

This took her aback, and she didn't know what to say. "Uh, I don't know. Why?" She backed up towards the counter, and he followed her, visibly enjoying her obvious discomfort. "Because, when you steal from the Toa of Ice, he must be repaid somehow."

She snorted, and decided to play the game. "Oh really? And how would you have me repay you? I'm already helping you to make dinner. Would you like me to be your slave for the rest of the day too?"

"Not at all. You have to give me back the sauce you stole."

This earned him a weird look, a quirk of the mouth which he found, as usual, completely adorable. "Nuju...I don't know if you ever studied anatomy, or science in general, but the only way for me to do that is to cut myself open and scoop it out of my stomach."

"Actually, there's some on your mouth. That'll do just fine." In one fluid movement, Nuju had kissed her and placed her on the counter, hands on her waist, keeping her there. He heard the small noise of shock she made, but smirked against her lips when she gave in and kissed him back.

"But...the food..." she mumbled after a minute, and he smirked again. "I think we can afford to leave it alone for a bit longer."

It was left alone for so long that it nearly burned, for the first time in Nuju's culinary history.

X x X

**AN: Haha! NujuSiahta is so cute X3 Nuju's a bit OOC here, but I can see him acting like this. Very snarky, very sure of himself. Sure, at the beginning of the Metru saga, he was pretty uptight, but he had lightened up quite a bit towards the end. Pretty awesome for such a stick-in-the-mud, ne?**

**And now I'm off to bed, to try to sleep for the first time in God only knows how long! Goodnight!**

**Review, please!**


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